Getting a degree is not cheap. Nor are books, lodging, transportation, tuition and all of the other associated expenses. By the time you factor in the years you will spend completing your higher education, it is clear that earning a degree is a massive investment. And the last thing you want to do is waste your time and money working towards a useless piece of paper.
According to the experts, the following degrees will lead to limited job prospects and little monetary return on your investment.
In today’s job market, some degrees make great kindling…but that’s all.
1. Fine Arts
There was a time when gifted artists were sought out by royalty and other wealthy patrons, but, for the most part, those days are gone. The label “starving artist,” unfortunately, is the harsh reality for many. And those who do become household names often do so after they have passed away.
The cold hard facts are that the mid-career unemployment rate for fine artists is a whopping 7.3%,and the median earnings for a painter/illustrator sits at just over $37,000 per year. This clearly is a discipline that you should pursue because you love it and not because you covet job security or financial success.
If you are determined to pursue a career in the arts, you may wish to consult PayScale’s “Top 10 Jobs for Art and Design Majors by Salary Potential.”
2. Religious Studies
Entering into the field of religion is a noble pursuit, but it is important to note that while this area of study can provide you with an abundance of intrinsic rewards, it will not lead to earthly gains. In fact, the unemployment rate for those at the middle of their career sits at a sizeable 6.8%, while the median earnings for these individuals is only $48,000 annually. If you have your heart set on a career in religion, Graham Snowdon’s “What to do with a Degree in Theology or Religious Studies,” offers you some options to explore.
3. Anthropology
How many working anthropologists have you met during your lifetime? Likely not too many, if any at all. That is because there are not a lot of jobs in this field and, as Jennifer Berry’s “Dead End Degrees that will Get You Nowhere” states, “the skills learned studying anthropology simply aren’t relevant in the general job market.” If you are determined, however, to find the next big pile of dinosaur bones or the lost civilization of Atlantis, you will need to prepare yourself for a possible lifetime of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
Recent graduates of Anthropology programs face an unemployment rate of 10.5% and, if they do land a job, they can anticipate a median salary of $28,000.Best not burden yourself with student loans.
4. Music Degree
According to the experts, gifted musicians may be better off investing their time in honing their craft than pursuing an actual degree. With new grads facing an unemployment rate of 9.2% and a huge number of new degree-holders each year–89,140 students received a degree in music in 2009 alone–the battle for jobs is fierce. And when one considers that the median earnings for recent grads equates to a mere $30,000 per year, it hardly seems worth it.
5. Education
While shaping the minds of the future leaders of tomorrow is an occupation worthy of respect–one cannot take “respect” to the bank. And, unfortunately, despite spending hours at home marking papers and dedicating free time to coaching the Varsity Basketball team, our nation does not pay its teachers well.
An elementary school teacher’s median salary is just $52,241 and a high school teacher earns only about $2000 more. Early Childhood Educators fare even worse with a starting salary of only $29,200.
If quickly landing a job upon graduation is important to you–and you need said job to pay well–you may wish to cast your sites on a more promising degree. If you truly long to pursue one of these disciplines, do so with realistic expectations. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones.
Have you graduated from one of these five programs? Were you successful at securing a job with your degree?